Lacrosse defeats Coastal Carolina, wins sixth straight
Freshman midfielder Hannah Potter runs the ball down the field during the lacrosse game on Feb. 28 at the Soccer/Lacrosse Complex.
The Central Michigan lacrosse team defeated Coastal Carolina on the road extending CMU’s win streak to six games.
The Chippewas (11-5, 4-0 SoCon) defeated the Chanticleers (8-8, 3-1 ASun) 11-10 to pick up their ninth win in the last 10 games.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be a lopsided win, that's for sure,” said head coach Sara Tisdale. “Proud of the effort for sixty minutes.”
CMU was led by Emma Hamilton with four goals and an assist, Natalie Karlen with a goal and four assists and Jocelyne Lemay with two goals. Goalie Dominique Hamman made 16 saves, including nine in the second half.
“Dom (Hamman) is able to play the way she does is because she puts herself in the right position to come up with those saves,” Tisdale said. “Defense played as a unit and it was nice to see.”
The first half was very similar to CMU's first half against Old Dominion on Friday. In both games, the Chippewas tied the scores on several different occasions. Against Coastal Carolina, CMU tied the game five different times in the first half.
Less than a minute after the opening faceoff, the sophomore Karlen scored a goal, giving Central Michigan an early lead.
After two Chanticleer goals, Karlen assisted on Hamilton's goal. Coastal Carolina retook the lead moments later, but Karlen assisted another goal to tie it.
The Chanticleers scored to take the lead with just under 10 minutes remaining before sophomore Tyra Prince scored to tie the game 5-5 heading into halftime.
“There’s a lot of movement at first on offense so it was easy to make the reads,” Karlen said. “Everyone was doing there job and was in the right spots so it just happened to workout that way.”
Juniors Lemay and Anna Schoonover scored two goals to start the second half but Coastal Carolina went on to score the next four goals giving them a 9-7 lead.
Lemay and Hamilton each scored to tie the game at nine before CCU scored to take the lead with just over seven minutes remaining.
Less than a minute later, Doyle tied the game and then with just under five minutes remaining Emma Hamilton scored the game winning goal on a free position shot.
“Ever since we’ve been winning everyone’s been so excited,” Karlen said. “The energy’s been there every practice and it’s fun winning.”
Central Michigan returns to action against Detroit Mercy at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Detroit. The Titans defeated the Chippewas in the 2017 regular season finale costing CMU a chance a postseason opportunity.
“I love how were playing, I love our team chemistry, I love our energy,” Tisdale said. “We know the stakes are huge but we’re not going to change anything we’re doing.”
